A tip of the hat to the volunteers who jumped into action over the past week in Pendleton to protect against the rising waters.
The good news is Gov. Kate Brown finally has a plan for putting PERS on solid financial footing. The bad news is that it includes pushing SAIF off that solid ground, as well as taking most of …
The city of Pendleton is at a crossroads when it comes to streets and infrastructure.
A small facet of a once little-known federal program now poses a big threat to many farmers and orchardists across the nation.
Oregon’s Legislature is proposing Senate Bill 959, which addresses legislative financial compensation. As it stands, Oregon lawmakers earn $31,200 a year and a $149 per diem payment for meals …
That 825 Oregonians died in a single year by suicide is a sobering assessment of our collective ability to help those who feel trapped in their own despair.
Something is missing from the wage-and-hour, equal pay and other workplace posters that Oregon employers must display: no photo of the person in charge, the Oregon commissioner of Labor and In…
When it comes to advocating for their children’s schools, Oregon families are a force of nature. They organize bake sales, car washes and auctions for a fundraising cycle that never ends. They…
Democrats who run the Washington Legislature are considering bills to tax carbon, cap greenhouse gases, make all electricity renewable, mandate more biofuels in gasoline and diesel, and govern…
Farmers are closely watching the Trump administration as it negotiates new trade treaties with Asian nations such as China and Japan. But another treaty negotiation closer to home could have a…
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and the Democrat majority in the Legislature want to make sure that no one in the state, least of all farmers and ranchers, receive any benefits from regulatory relief f…
The Oregon Legislature’s longtime human resources director was deservedly criticized for her handling of sexual harassment cases at the State Capitol. Yet Lore Christopher received a sweet dea…
A tip of the hat to the Hermiston dance team, winners of the school’s first Washington state title.
PERS will swallow much of the $2 billion that the Oregon Legislature is trying to raise for public schools. Even the Legislature’s Democratic leadership concedes this.
Oregon’s history tells story of a populace’s fickle approach to the death penalty.
On the surface, life is back to normal in the Oregon Capitol.
A tip of the hat to Pendleton’s Rhythmic Mode dance team on its ninth state championship.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden has become very good at walking a fine line during his town hall meetings in Eastern Oregon. A tightrope, even.
In the wake of Friday’s horrific massacre in which 50 mosque worshippers were slaughtered by a gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand, social media exploded almost immediately with theories and o…
Democrats hold Oregon’s fate in their hands — at least for the near term.
Cattlemen are cheering an announcement that the Department of the Interior will soon propose a plan to end federal protections on gray wolves, especially after the report claiming the species …
Oregon legislators are to be commended for going outside Salem to hear from non-urbanites about the state budget and other issues. But lawmakers should go further, adding more rural perspectiv…
It is in these early months each year when a sense begins to emerge about the condition of forthcoming salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest. Mysterious to the uninitiated, the North of Falcon …
Former Secretary of State Norma Paulus was a product of rural Oregon. She exemplified what individuals can do when given a chance — conquering poverty, polio and the lack of a college degree t…
Oregon voters may soon get to decide whether to lower the voting age to 16.
A tip of the hat to the Heppner Mustangs and Nixyaawii Golden Eagles, our newest state champions.
Dennis Richardson was a courageous man.
A tip of the hat to the Blue Mountain Heart to Heart needle exchange program that set up shop in Pendleton last weekend.
It’s part of human nature to want to draw lines. We all use lines to create imaginary “communities.”
Two qualities that make our communities strong are personal responsibility and neighborly cooperation. We do what we can to contribute. We take responsibility for our piece of what needs to be…
With the possible exception of some high school graduates who can’t wait to put a few hundred miles between themselves and their hometowns, everyone loves community colleges. They are the Mari…
Subsidies make an economy work. After all, very little could be accomplished without collaboration.
Believe it or not, local public schools are already two-thirds of the way through the 2018-19 academic year. Before spring fever hits and thoughts turn to prom and graduation, now is a good ti…
A tip of the hat to the hat tippers — local chambers of commerce — that put on annual award banquets to highlight the best of their communities.
Many Americans worry about the changing climate, but what adds to those worries is a sense of helplessness.
“Climate change is real,” reads the opening line of a recent op-ed penned by U.S. Rep. Greg Walden and two fellow Republican congressmen. It was repeated by Walden during his town hall Monday …
New York Congresswoman and socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC to the tabs), along with a group of other Democrats in Congress, last week released the framework for a 10-year plan to fight…
Just about the last thing a visitor to Ted Birdseye’s ranch would expect to see is “Tube Man.”
It’s fitting that Oregon’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day. It’s the loveliest state we can imagine, and we’re glad to call her ours.
As is true across the state, Eastern Oregon is home to a sizable bloc of nonaffiliated voters.
Art is a refuge in our modern world. At its best it’s a transformative experience to take in the creative endeavor of another person, to clear your own mind and make room for another perspecti…
If the question could be resolved via citizens’ initiatives, there’s little doubt about the outcome: Pacific Northwest states would follow California in supporting a move toward year-round day…
A tip of the hat to the FFA funding bill, sponsored by Rep. Greg Barreto (R-Cove), that would add $1.4 million to pay for competitions, training and leadership courses and conventions. There’s…
It’s understandable that you might be tired of politics in general right now, and political campaigns specifically.
Over the past few weeks, we have received reports of an outbreak of measles in southwestern Washington, which has now hit more than 50 patients.
As Virginia’s Democratic governor learned to his regret in recent days, a huge majority of Americans remain disgusted by the toxic bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan and all it stands for.
A kick in the pants to Oregon’s failure to keep up with the growing legal marijuana market.
Donald Rumsfeld, a former secretary of defense, famously discussed how unknown factors impacted his decision-making during the run-up to the war in Iraq.
As a society, we have made such progress against once-common illnesses that we forget they are still around and still potentially life-threatening. The measles outbreak in Southeast Washington…
We live in an era of black-and-white, of lines drawn in the sand, of non-negotiables.
As the Oregon Legislature prepared to start work this week, its leaders were saying all the right things about working together, respecting rural Oregon and doing what was best for the state a…
The state of Oregon must begin grappling with the lack of reliable emergency response in its wildest and most remote places.
Atip of the hat to Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, for bringing a package of four wildfire bills to address problems and oversights in his expansive district.
If you believe the headlines, the partial shutdown of the federal government is the result of a dispute between President Trump and congressional Democrats over money to build a wall on the bo…